Tails From Provence

The 20km Trek

(It’s a been too long since I did a long one…)

There’s a young couple who keep their horses at the farm. They’re seriously into endurance riding – in the past, I have referred to them as Monsieur and Madame Endurance. Madame was short-listed for the French team for WEG this year and Monsieur’s horse is just about to go international – he’s doing a 200km two-day ride in Barcelona this weekend. Anyhow, they are so committed to their sport that they have sussed out loads and loads of trails around our area. They had told MC that there’s a nice 20km loop just the other side of Vachères, which is only a couple of kilometres from the farm.

Let’s do it, we said.

We looked at maps beforehand and had a very vague, fuzzy notion of where to go. However, Monsieur Endurance had also given MC incredibly detailed directions, which she had carefully noted down. Which was a very good thing indeed – if not for those directions, I think we’d still be riding around between Vachères, Simiane la Rotonde and Banon, two weeks later.

We decided to trailer the horses to the start point – well, a couple of kilometres is an hour by horse, as opposed to a few minutes by jeep and trailer! The plan was for four to five hours of riding, not six or seven (I think that would have killed both of us).

We found the car park described by Monsieur Endurance – on a bend, used by hunters. Loads of room for a jeep and trailer.

Flurry and Quieto were very calm as we tacked them up.

MC uses front hoof boots on Quieto – his horrible crack is still growing out – but I decided to go barefoot with Flurry. The Endurances had said the trails were good all the way around… but I always forget that their horses are shod and we have different opinions as to what constitutes ‘good.’

We led the horses for the first bit, along the road – this allows their back muscles to warm up before their rider gets on board.

We were quite high up, but the views were sporadic and mostly obscured by trees. Literally, I couldn’t see the woods for the trees!

The view towards Simiane-La_Rotonde

After about half a kilometre, we turned off the road onto a very stony forest trail and I was already regretting my decision not to use hoof boots. I stayed on foot and hoped that the surface would improve, which it did – eventually. We went from stones to deep, slippery mud, with massive puddles – but at least the horses were more comfortable on it.

Down and down and down we went, the trail weaving back and forth against the side of the hill, landmarks passing by precisely as described by Monsieur Endurance. Finally we seemed to be on the valley floor. We would have to pass through a field of ponies, through the gates of an electric fence. Around a corner we went, and there it was, a strand of wire across our path.

MC closing the wire behind us

No ponies to be seen, though – I guess they had been taken off the field because it was so wet.

“30 metres after the second gate, there’s a rough trail to the right, with branches cut down all over it.”

Sure enough, there it was. Now we were to follow an almost straight line northwards until we rejoined the road.

This section seemed to pass incredibly fast. I tried to figure out where we were on my map and got it completely wrong, as I learned later. This is why I was really glad we had those brilliant directions! We came out onto the road in what seemed like no time, and stayed on it for almost 2km.

We were starting to climb back up the hill again and the views across the valley were briefly unobscured.

The next landmark was a big open area beside a water storage tank (borne). We decided that this was a good place for a picnic, so we stopped and ate, while the horses grazed.

“Take the rightmost trail from the borne” – but we were puzzled. The rightmost trail seemed to go straight back onto the road? We agreed that a phone call was in order. Yes indeed, Monsieur Endurance said, that’s the one. It swings away from the road and back around the hill, he said.

It was a wise decision to make that call. I’m pretty sure we’d have taken the wrong trail without his reassurance. The trail descended for a short distance and then we were climbing in earnest. The surface was good and Flurry felt great, striding along happily. An hour later, we found ourselves emerging onto a road we were both familiar with. Turning right would have brought us back towards Vachères, but the instructions were to turn left and then take a right onto a steep track through the woods on the other side.

“I need to walk,” I said, and we both dismounted. I reckon we walked for a good two or three kilometres, and I think that walk saved me from extreme stiffness the next day.

There were beautiful views from the top of the ridge, looking towards Mont Ventoux (lost in the gloom) on one side :

and the Alps on the other (the smudge on the horizon is the Alps, I swear!) :We crossed the road again and passed through a plantation of sweet chestnuts and then followed a track along the top of the hill from which our descent had started. Of course there was a lavender field en route!

The trail became more and more stony and I felt Flurry was getting a bit tender in his feet. Enough, I thought, I’ll dismount and leave him pick his way along without my weight on his back. MC took to her feet as well but, as it turned out, we were only fifty metres or so from the trailer! Still, it’s always a good thing to walk for the last section – it allows the horse’s back start to cool off.

Neither horse was particularly sweaty. This really surprised and pleased me in Flurry’s case. He usually sweats easily, but I think we had paced ourselves well enough that he wasn’t at all stressed by the long ride.

I didn’t use my phone to map the route – my battery was a bit low and I didn’t want to risk it. Here’s the IGN map(s) with the route marked out on it (of course our trail spanned the join in two maps!) This image should be good enough quality that you can zoom in if you want to. We started out at about 830 metres and dropped to 520 metres, then climbed up to 800, with a gradual climb back to 830 along the last ridge.

I have to say it doesn’t look like 20km on the map, but who am I to argue with the Endurances.

For all who are interested, Flurry’s bloods came back showing that there’s nothing untoward going on with his kidneys. Good news and bad news, I guess.

PS Friday December 5th is the last day of voting for the HayNet Blogger of the Year Award. If you haven’t already done so, can you pop over there and vote for Tails From Provence? (They mis-spelt Tails, but they’re a nice bunch so I’ll forgive them) CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

The Mud Monster Does Dressage, Part 3

So in we went. The LSH was watching from the long side, Marine and her sidekick Mathilde were watching from the far end and Alexandrine was watching from the end nearest the warm up. All were ready to pick up the pieces, I suppose.

Rusheen and Mathilde

Flurry did a teeny ‘Happy Flurry’ head shake as I asked him to trot. We reported to the judge, who was set up in an open trailer at C. Loads of other horses had spooked at this earlier, when I was watching. Sensible Flurry was definitely back, though, and he just gazed at their set-up serenely as I gave my name and number.

And we were off.

Wobbly centre line on entry – we can do so much better than that! The trot work was ok – my first circle was way to big, but he was going forward nice and sweetly. Leg-yielding wasn’t as good as it can be, but then you’re not allowed to carry a whip in French dressage competitions and, if you remember, I had taken off my spurs earlier. Flurry’s first lengthened trot was almost the best he can do; the second one less so.

His walk was a little stuffy, but straight. Now canter time was coming up. It’s meant to be a walk/canter transition, but I wasn’t too concerned about perfection, I just wanted a canter with no airs above the ground! So our transition was not the sharpest, but he cantered on. The first part of canter in that test is a counter-canter loop. Apparently we didn’t quite make it to X, but we did it without breaking and without a flying change. He broke canter in the corner – the judge couldn’t see us there! HaHa! – but he picked it up immediately when I asked. Past the judge at C, 15m circle at B, canter across the short diagonal, trot at the centre line (or a little after, in our case), walk at K. Breathe…

Canter at A and off we went again on a counter-canter loop and at this stage Gloria Gaynor is in my head, singing YES! I WILL SURVIVE! He was cutting the corners at the judge’s end big-time – not spookily, just reluctant to go into them and reluctant to pass close to the trailer containing the judge. I wasn’t pushing the issue – my legs were feeling just a tad jellyish and, being spurless, I wasn’t sure they would have any effect.

Finally we were turning down the centre line for the last time. Ride straight, ride forward, I thought, and we powered down the line to halt at I. Done.

“J’ai survécu!” was the first thing I said to Alexandrine as I left the arena. I think she was pretty happy for me, that I’d gone and done it. Heck, I was happy for me.

It was persistently raining by now and we decided that the best thing to do was for the LSH to take the horses home while Marine, Mathilde and I waited for the prize giving. Rusheen loaded easily enough for Alexandrine (she has a magic touch), Flurry stomped blithely up the ramp and the LSH took the wheel. The jeep slipped and slid its way across the field, only to become stuck on the slight incline leading out to the road. Would we have to unload the horses again? Hay was deployed under the wheels, and the four of us – Alexandrine, Mathilde, Marine and I – put our shoulders to the back of the trailer and pushed. Girl Power rules – with wildly spinning wheels, the jeep finally got its nose out onto the road and they were away.

We made our way to the café, where coffee and a croissant awaited me. We sat; we looked at the photos Mathilde had taken; the girls chatted with their friends; I tuned in and out of their conversation – I’ve learned to let French chitchat wash over me now, I can half listen and pick up phrases and words here and there. We watched midget ponies and midget kids wing their way around the 60cm jumping course. Hmm, I thought, if I was jumping, that’s the height I’d like to do, but I’d look a bit odd jumping with that lot. I’m sure I’m old enough to be the grandmother of some of those kids… After having that thought, I looked around the room. Yeah. I was probably the oldest person there, and the oldest rider by a good 25 years. Where are all the nice middle-aged(+) ladies with their earnest cobs and honest little horses that you see competing in Ireland and the UK? They must be here somewhere… maybe they’re happy just trekking?

Finally, they starting calling out the prizewinners. I was hopeful that I’d be placed in Club 3 GP and I was – third, and less than 3% off the winner! Really pleased with that one, considering the marks I chucked away with big circles and late transitions!

I wasn’t expecting anything in Club 2 – if I broke the 60% mark, I’d be very happy. Much to my surprise, I was fifth, on 62.6%.

And not too far off the winner, either.

An excellent result, all things considered.

The Mud Monster Does Dressage Part 2

But then (I was about to go away to a quiet corner and learn my next test, remember?) Alexandrine said to me that they were looking for riders in Club 2 Grand Prix. It seems I wasn’t the only late arrival of the day, and the call up steward had said if anyone was ready, they could go ahead.

Well, this was irritating. Flurry was perfectly warmed up and ready to go, but I really didn’t know the test well enough to go in straight away. Sure, I knew the gist of it, but it was the smaller details, like is the trot across the diagonal with lengthened strides from S to P or from S to K? I said I would take a few minutes, during which time I could watch one person go, refresh the whole test in my head and do a final tune-up with Flurry – a couple of walk/canter transitions and a little bit of leg-yielding.

I watched one person go. Ok, now I was sure of where I was going. Sharpen up Flurry and we’ll be off…

He was absolutely fine. Normal, steadfast little Flurry. We trotted and cantered, did a leg-yield on each rein. We were now ready to go, but someone else had gone into the arena. I would have to wait a bit more. I continued to walk Flurry around the warm-up arena and then two things happened.

First of all, the larger warm-up arena – the one with all the show-jumps – was invaded by about forty small kids, along with their trainers, parents and general hangers-on, who were all set on doing a course walk. This meant that most of the horses that had been working in that arena now moved into the small arena where I was riding. So the second thing was that seven or eight horses appeared out of nowhere and started warming up all around us.

Flurry still felt normal – maybe a little more tense, with all the other horses around, but still normal. Then we passed very close to another horse and he lashed out at it – very unusual for him. He has never, in the four years I’ve owned him, kicked out at another horse.

Hmm, I thought, maybe I should leave this melee and wait elsewhere until it’s my turn. We walked into the adjoining arena (the one with jumps and lots of people) and he completely exploded.

Several times.

Very high sometimes, but the LSH missed all of those ones.

I was very worried that A) I was going to go SPLAT! on the muddy ground in front of all these people and B) Flurry was going to trample some small people.

Let me be clear here. Excited Flurry will shake his head, maybe bounce a little and, if he’s feeling particularly naughty, throw his heels in the air as he canters. He can also take hold of the bit and try to tank off when we’re out in the open, but that hasn’t happened for a long time.

This was none of the above. This was on-the-spot broncing, followed by rushing sideways and attempting to spin. It was very clear “Get the Hell off my back” stuff.

I rode him through the first few and regained control. What the heck? Were my spurs bothering him? He’s never reacted to spurs before, but maybe…

With the help of the LSH, I took off the spurs and attempted to ride a circle. BAM. Same thing. Broncing, skittering sideways. It clearly wasn’t the spurs.

Alexandrine reappeared (Marine and Rusheen had been doing Club 3 GP, so she had been watching them) and tried to coach me through it, but she was as surprised by Flurry’s behaviour as I was. I speculated that maybe he had pulled something when he was trying to extricate himself from the trailer floor, but we both felt this was unlikely. Eventually, I decided to dismount, watch a few tests and then mount up again. If he was still as bad, I would withdraw from my second test.

We stood beside the arena and watched a few riders go – fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. I loosened Flurry’s girth and found it to be tighter than I would normally have it. Alexandrine had done it up during my first warm-up. Was that the problem? Marine and Rusheen went in and did Club 2. They had no mistakes, but he’s a bit tight and inconsistent in his outline – ‘not through’ I think is how you put it.

Flurry seemed calm as I remounted and rode back into the jumping arena, which was now almost clear of course-walkers. Then BAM. Another explosion. It clearly wasn’t the girth and it wasn’t the crowds. Flurry didn’t know where he wanted to go – he wasn’t napping towards the gate or anything like that – he just wanted me off his back.

I rejoined Alexandrine and shook my head. I definitely would not compete. A) it’s meant to be fun and B) this was not normal Flurry behaviour at all. Flurry and I stood beside her and watched one of her other pupils go. Flurry decided to have a pee and when he had finished, I said I would walk around quietly once or twice and leave it at that.

We walked off.

And BAM, just like that, Normal Flurry was back.

We walked, cautiously at first, then more confidently. We trotted. We leg-yielded. We walked on a completely loose rein.

(It’s a bit worrying that such behaviour was caused by a need to pee. I had already noticed that he is passing urine more often than normal when we hack out. These two things together are enough to make me want the vet to seem him this week.)

Needless to say, I changed my mind about Club 2 Grand Prix. I would compete after all, but I decided not to canter in the warm-up – I was feeling pretty nervous and I didn’t want to risk another explosion, plus the arena was still very busy. I decided that I didn’t care too much about how the test went, I just wanted to do it and feel that I hadn’t been put off by Flurry’s shenanigans.

So in we went and –

More tomorrow.